What Does it Mean to be Empowered?

There are two perceptual worldviews that we can build our lives upon, an externalized causality from the outside-in, and an internalized causality from the inside-out. Those who operate as if the external world is cause will view themselves as merely an effect; and this is known as “victim consciousness”. However, those who operate as if their internal world is cause will view their external world as an effect; and this is known as “creator consciousness”.

The externalized worldview is responsible for the competitive power game, where individuals and groups must compete against one another for the resource of power; this game is populated by three archetypes—victims, heroes, and villains. Victims are the core archetype of the externalized worldview, as victim consciousness underlies both the hero and villain archetypes; victims feel powerless and require a savior to keep them safe, or they externalize further as a hero or villain in attempt to regain a sense of power. Heroes bypass around their victimization and powerless feelings by using their actions to defeat villains, as well as to save victims; for it makes them feel a sense of power. Conversely, villains use their actions to indulge their lust and greed at the expense of defeated heroes and conquered victims, and this grants them a counterfeit sense of power.

Victims are unable to be cause at all, while heroes and villains are able to trick themselves into feeling like they are cause (powerful), since they are acting as cause over others; this is in stark contrast to an empowered individual, for an empowered individual is cause of their life from within. Acting as cause over others gives heroes and villains the illusion of taking matters into their own hands, and yet it is not internalized from within, but externalized out over others. Feeling triggered, sad, angry, fearful, and powerless are good indicators that a person has an externalized worldview, and are thus still a victim, for the external world can “make” them feel happy when they’re shown they are powerful, or “make” them feel poorly when they’re shown they are powerless.

However, the internalized worldview is free from power dramas, and is responsible for the empowered game; it has only one archetype—the creator. Creators are empowered to create their passions as sovereign beings without the need to compete for external resources, as all of their resources flow from within themselves and extends out to their external world. They are cause, and the world is the canvas upon which they paint their vision—the effect. This brings new meaning to the phrase, “be the change you wish to see in the world”, as Gandhi was effectively saying that each individual has the potential to be the cause who creates a better world.

To lead an empowered life, it is imperative that individuals change their focus from external cause to internal cause, so that they can perceive themselves as cause, and the external world as merely their effect. To do this, they must reverse engineer all of their negative emotions that spring up from the externalized “power over others” game, to locate and neutralize their emotional attachments, and correct the underlying perceptions that motivate their feelings and actions.

Nathan and Aline created an integrative methodology called the Unity Process, which combines Natural Law, the Trivium Method, Socratic Questioning, Jungian shadow work, and Meridian Tapping—into an easy to use system that allows people to process their emotional upsets, work through trauma, correct poor thinking, discover meaning, set healthy boundaries, and refine their viewpoints. We practice it together in our groups, and in our individual sessions. View all posts by Nathan & Aline »